Saturday, April 30, 2011

Are you familiar with the Splitcoast Fan club? Each month they post a challenge theme and there are three challenges. The theme for April (or Shapril as they've called it) is "Oh, so shapely", they've got swimsuit season in mind, punches and dies too.

One of the challenges is "More is More" they ask you to show a minimal version and a stepped up version of your project. Up till now I've never entered that particular challenge.

Over the last couple days I've been working on this beach card. I made it for a swap I've signed up for on Splitcoast. So actually I made six of this card. Originally I thought I might enter it into the "Central Theme" challenge but somewhere along the line as I was sewing or assembling the card I thought of the More is More challenge and wondered why I hadn't made a more stripped down version of this sucker. So I decided I would make one, just for the heck of it. Too bad I didn't of the minimal version before I made the stepped up one.

After making six of the stepped up version the minimal was a piece of cake. On the stepped up card every layer is popped up, in the minimal version the only one popped up is the image layer. In this version the image was cut with the inverted scallops nestie. In the stepped up one it was cut with a circle die and the mat was cut with the inverted scallop die. While there are a couple embellishments left on the minimal version (I couldn't bare to leave off the charm and the baker's twine) most of the other embellies (the sewing, the brads, the stickles, the lace, the pearls and the sentiment on the inside) were left off. In the stepped up version the charm is tied to the bakers twine with a double bow of beige linen twine, in the mini version it's tied on the baker's twine, the linen twine is left off. It's difficult to see the charm (it's the shape of the state of Florida) and the linen twine on the stepped up version. There weren't enough of any charms to use on all seven of the cards. One of the cards has a palm tree charm. They all look cute but I am partial to the palm tree, I'll have to pick up some more of that one. Funny thing, I can't decide which version of the card I like better.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. By the way, if you happen to have any idea why this changed from single spaced to double spaced in the middle of the deets can you tell me. I have no idea how or why it happened and couldn't get it to go back to single space. Well, if that's the biggest problem I have today, then I can't complain.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

What's your favorite technique? Mine's paper piecing. Lucky me, this week the challenge at Paper Pretties is just that, paper piecing. So get out your stamps, (they don't have to be Paper Pretty stamps but if you got them we love to see what you do with them) and papers and snip away, and join us in challenge PWC151.

Here's where you can find all the challenge details, samples made by the other design team members and the linky thingy.

Every other week I make a card for the Cooking It Up with Katie challenge. I've been doing this for awhile so you'd think I have it down to a science, but no, I'm almost always the last one to get my card off to Katie. Luckily for me she's a sweetie and she never complains. This week the recipe for challenge #59 is to "use ribbons, tags and bows. Pretty easy, huh? I thought so and I went on my merry little way, printed out this fun digi primitive bird house image from Robyn's Fetish (this week's sponsor) and got to work. I love this dp from Cosmo Cricket, I think the little birdies are a perfect compliment for the birdhouse.So what went wrong? I forgot to write down the recipe, you'd think I could remember those three things (I thought I could). I had my picture edited and ready to post it to Katie when I looked up the challenge # and noticed I was missing a tag! Dang. Well, luckily for me I could just tie a tag to my bow which is what I did, the problem, by then it was too dark to take a decent photograph.
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don't forget the inside

﻿ Such an exciting story... do you need some more inspiration, do you want to see the challenge rules, find out about the prize or are looking for the linky thingy you can click here.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Just like the Easter Bunny the Pretties (the Paper Pretties design team) are hopping. You know what that means, it's a birthday! Yippee! Cake for everybody. I picked up a lambie cake (it is so dang cute, I hate to cut into it) for tonight's desert and I'm going to pretend it's Cindy's and Domi's birthday cake. If you're in the neighborhood stop by for a slice and cuppa.

Happy Birthday Cindy and Domi!

I hope each of you have a wonderful day. I hope it's not so bad to have to share your special day with all the Easter festivities.

In case you're not familiar with our birthday blog hops they always start at the Paper Pretties challenge bog. where you'll find a list of all the participants in the order of the hop, so if you get lost or there's a snag somewhere along the line pop back to Paper Pretties and you can click on the next name on the list and get hopping again. Your next stop on the hop will be Frances (Stamp Owl). I know there's going to be something wonderful there.

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don't forget the inside

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For my card I used the "Sock Monkey" which was just released. I had to have this stamp and when I found some paper that had very colorful sock monkey on it I scooped it right up. Most of the monkeys are partially obscured, in person you'd see one full one where my watermark appears. I stamped the image a second time onto the orange dp, cut it out and colored the ribbon with an orange copic. Next I used an exacto knife on the sides of the monkey paws so that I could slip the box under the paws. Then I cut the image out and popped it up with dimensionals. After that it's pretty much cutting, pasting and sewing.

Once again I cannot believe the amount of work that was put into this cake. It's gorgeous isn't it? But would you want to cut into it to eat it? For me, the more sculptured cakes are the least appealing to my appetite. Which is a good thing, cause I certainly don't need to be eating cake. On the other hand when I see lots of buttercream or whipped cream icing I start to salivate and can't wait to have a piece. My favorite is chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing, maybe a flower on top, yummmmm, but I digress...The Sweeties are challenging you to make a card or project inspired by this cake. You can do with a theme, or the colors or whatever the photo inspires in you. This week the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC108 is sponsored by Wild Rose Studio. They've generously given each of the design team a stamp which happen to feature Fergus the Dragon. He's an awfully cute dragon. But there's way more than dragons in this shop. I'd like to mention that there's a new "For Men" section. I'm always saying I need more masculine stuff, if you're like me, you might find some stamps and paper there that will round out your stash.﻿

Isn't Fergus cute, cute, cute!?

﻿Are you ready to play, well stop over at Cucpcake Inspirations to read all the challenge details and after you've made your creation you can link it up there. Of course you're going to want to see what the rest of the design team had done with Fergus. You're gonna love their cards.

As you can see I've chosen to use the lavender and green color scheme from the cake and the dragon stamp is perfect for this cake. What will you make? I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The big day is almost here. Are you wondering what happened to your invite? Me too. I tell you if I see my mail carrier among the guests there's gonna be a scene. All over the world people will be tuning in to see the wedding of Kate and William. I'm looking forward to seeing her gown. I love wedding gowns, I watch "Say Yes to the Dress" and David Tuterra with tears in my eyes. Yeah, I'm a big old goofy idiot that cries at weddings (if you read my profile you know I cry easily) even weddings on TV. I'll be sure to stock up on Kleenex for the big day.Stamping for the Weekend wants you to join our challenge this week with a card for the lovely couple. What a fun challenge for me. First I picked up this digi image at Teddy Bo. I colored it with copics, attempting to get a subtle vintage look. It was cut out with a circle nesties and the edge was sponged with Ranger Tattered Rose. It took some time for me to find papers that I liked with it. The dp behind the image is beige tone on tone with a flourish design, it's so subtle you can't make it out in the photo. That paper and the cs used for its mat were brushed with the Tattered Rose. The dp on the card base is from Creative Memories, it's a light aqua with a beige flourish pattern. The lace started out as white but it too has been brushed with the Tattered Rose. I used the beige on beige paper for the inside but for some reason all the photos I took of it don't look anything like the actual card. Actually the photo looks like it but when I crop it the colors change. I can't figure out why that is happening. The corners of the dp were punched with a scalloped corner punch from Creative Memories. It's just a small bit of work but it makes the card look more finished.So how about joining us as we celebrate the royal wedding. Here's the link where you can find out all the challenge details, you can see what the rest of the design team has made and you'll find the linky tool for posting your creation.

I've been hanging around the bar again. That's the Raise the Bar challenge blog. They picked my "Return of Cluck" card as one of the top three for the "Hey Chick! challenge. The top three are invited to be be guest bar tenders. I'm such a challenge junkie I couldn't say no. Besides it's fun.

This week's challenge is a "Nautical theme" with the recipe requirement to use blue, white and stripes. This card was made with a stamp from an old and neglected set of stamps I picked up at AC Moore many moons ago. The papers and brads been in my stash for quite some time too. Don't you just love it when you use up items in your stash?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

I start most of my days browsing through the challenges. Most of the time they are things that aren't particularly difficult and I just pick out one that sounds like fun and make my card. But every now and then I find a challenge that really is challenging to me. One that makes me do something new, something out of comfort zone. This week's Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge #24 was just that kind of challenge. They are asking us to make a Surprise Pop Up Card. Well I've never made one of these before but they linked up to Beate John's Splitcoast Tutorial for making them and after watching Beate's video I was game to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. This wasn't very difficult to do and it is really neat. It got a thumbs up from my teenage daughter and her boyfriend and that's not easy to do.﻿ ﻿﻿

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Are you ready for this week's Paper Pretties Challenge? This week PWC150 is a color challenge to use pink, green and a neutral.

I wanted to use this "Cooper" stamp because I just don't make many cards for boys or men but pink and green are usually very feminine.

Looking at the image it became clear to me that pink could be used on the egg and that everything else could be done in green's and tans. If the men folk in your life are liberal you could give Cooper a pink shirt. Keeping it fit for a boy meant that ribbon and flowers would be off limit. I did add a button and some twine with a charm to dress it up a little.

If you need to make some Easter gift tags or cards there's still time to get the "Easter Babies" digital set. They're being sold as a fundraiser. All the proceeds (less PayPal Expenses) will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. How sweet a deal is that? You get an adorable set of stamps and you do a charitable deed at the same time.

Thanks for stopping, I hope you'll come back again. I hope you'll join us in the Paper Pretties Color Challenge PWC150 to use pink, green and neutrals. All the challenge details (the rules, prize info, the linky tool, you know the drill) can be found by clicking on this link. You'll also be able to see the beautiful cards made by the rest of the design team.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Cat's Pajamas challenge is "All Things Baby". I don't have a baby images from TCP so I decided to use lots and lots of pink to make it suitable for welcoming a baby.

I was in the distressing mode from yesterday, so this card got the grunge treatment too. I'll probably be on this kick for awhile.

One of the things that doesn't show in the photo is the centers of the stamped pinwheels have Taylor's Tiny Twinkles in the center. The brads on the striped paper are green not black, they match the scraps of cs used for the dark grass.

I had a difficult time with the photo of the inside. The large pinwheel on the face makes it impossible to fold the card over. The image was stamped with a beige ink but it looks black in the photo.

Is Sunday a lazy day for you? First off you sleep in. Then when you finally get up you take your time going through the paper, reading the Parade and all the sales flyers. Later you move onto your computer to check out the challenges and then you move into your craft space and make a couple cards. Or do you live in the real world and have a family. Whatever kind of day you have, you can probably use some inspiration so we Sweeties at Cupcake Inspirations have got this lovely platter of cuppies to get your grey matter moving. This week's sponsor is Prairie Fairy who gave the sweeties images to use, you can see some of the other images by hopping over to the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge blog where you'll also find the details and the linky thingie for your project.

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Can you tell that's a charm hanging off the lace. It's got Asian symbols on it.

﻿ I picked the Japanese Lanterns image. This image reminded me of summer parties when I was a kid. The lanterns were a popular decoration. Because that was a long time ago I decided to make a distressed card. I think I spent more time making this card look shabby then I spent doing everything else. I particularly went out of my way to mess up the stitching by pulling out the threads from some parts and letting snippets show. Then everything was smudged and rubbed with a couple different inks and the edges were scraped up. It looks even better in real life.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now go get busy making a card or project inspired by the cupcakes in the photo at the top of the post. Don't forget to ink it up to the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge blog so we can come and see what you've done.

You've probably guessed that I love to play with paper and stamps. Sara Henton knows how much I love it so she asked me if I'd like to be one of the April guest designer for All Things Unity. So here I am with another post for the All Things Unity Challenge. This week it's a sketch challenge and what a great sketch for all those little Unity stamps.

Here's the sketch. I bet you can come up with something using it. So get your supplies out and get inky. You can find all the details for the challenge, the design teams' samples, and the linky gadget at the All thing Unity blog.

This week's challenge is sponsored by Buttons Galore and More. The green ribbon on my card is from the "Spring Fling" button package. It contained several flower shaped buttons with coordinating ribbons.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

This is the second card I've made using this week's Mojo Monday sketch. It's not a contest week I just really like this sketch.

It's difficult to see the sentiment which is "Somebunny loves you" because the ink is Stampin' Up's "Pretty in Pink" which is a very light color. The pink is also used on the inside where the image is stamped.

Because it's close to Easter there are lots of challenges for this card.

Yes, you have seen this card before. It was made with the Paper Pretties "Easter Babies" digital set. The Pretties would like to remind you that this set is being sold as a fund raiser. All the proceeds (less the PayPal fees) will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
To see some more examples of what you can make with this set hop on over to the Paper Pretties blog where you can join the hop.
If you missed this post the first time here's the link where you can see the inside and read all the deets.
More importantly here's the link where you can purchase the set. Because it's digital you'll have it in plenty of time for this Easter.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Over at Splitcoast I'm playing in a swap that's based on the decades. This card is for the 70's. If you lived through those wild post Woodstock days boy are you old. Oops, what I meant to say was, if you lived through those days you probably remember flower power. Then again, if you lived through that time you may not be able to remember much of anything, or you may not want to own up to any of the things you did. Hey, that was the time when streaking was born. Not being the exhibitionist type I didn't streak but I can remember someone streaking through one of my classes, but I digress...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

It's here! It's time for the Paper Pretties April blog hop which just happens to coincide with the release of the new stamp sets. The hop starts at the Paper Pretties blog so if you just happened here why don't you head over there and follow the hop, you'll be back here before you know it.Wohoo! The stamps this month are great. Okay I know I say words to that effect every month, It's because every month they just get better and better. My card is made with the "Return of Cluck" set. I love this set because:

the images are adorable

the images are fun to color

the sentiments are a riot

the sentiments are versatile

If you feel in love with this set you can buy it today (the stamps are available at 7:00 AM EST). Did you see the sock monkey that was sneaked on Sunday? I am in love with sock monkeys so I'm heading over there as soon as I can, hoping that you all haven't beat me to it.

OH! I almost forgot, it's Wednesday and that means it's also time for a challenge PWC149. This week the Pretties are challenging you to use at least 2 designer papers in your creation. And I bet you've guessed that you can find all the challenge details and the linky tool for posting your creation, all of that can be found at the Paper Pretties challenge blog.

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don't forget the inside

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The next stop on the hop is the wildly talented Cindy Haffner. I know you're going to find some yummy eye candy there. I'll be going there too but first I have to give you the deets and the challenges.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. The next stop on the hop is the fabulous Cindy Haffner. Don't forget if you lose your way or you need to take a break you can always stop back at the Paper Pretties blog for a list of the participants.﻿﻿

Need a recipe? You've come to the right place. It's Wednesday so there's a new Cooking It Up With Katie challenge. The recipe for challenge #57 is as easy as 1,2,3. It'sto use one image, 2 patterned papers and 3 embellishments. I have trouble counting embellishemts. I count my ribbon, lace, twine and charm as one embellishment, the four brads as the second embellishment and the heart as the third embellishment. If you don't care how I count mine, I won't take issue with the way you count yours.

This week the challenge is sponsored by Gingerloft . The design team got to choose images to play with. Check outthe Cooking It Up With Katie challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team choose and the fabulous cards they made. You can also get all the challenge details, find out what they prize is and that's where the linky tool will be, so you can show us what you've made.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

﻿﻿ What I like about this stamp is that it definitely looks like an Easter image (at least to me) without being a bunny, lamb, chickie, duck or an egg (not that I have anything against the bunnies, lambs, etc.). There are a couple challenges for shabby and vintage cards. They are so much fun for me. I love scrunging (yeah, I made that word up) up edges. That's making them grungy with sponging or pouncing ink on them, and tearing them up. The layout is this week's Mojo Monday challenge.